reveal English · revision 5239

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1375|origins=la vēlum}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /rɪˈviːl/, /rəˈviːl/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|revelen]], [[bor|fro|reveler]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) from [[la|revēlāre|t=to unveil, uncover, disclose]], from [[m|la|re-|t=back]] and [[m|la|vēlāre|t=to cover, veil]], from [[m|la|vēlum|t=a veil]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(SOED 2002) It is related to [[veil]] and [[revelation]].^(Cresswell 2021)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To make known in a supernatural or divine way, as religious truth: about 1375 in the OED, about 1400 in Etymonline.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ To disclose or make known by speaking is from about 1425.^(OED 1989) To show, make visible or expose to sight is from about 1500,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and to betray was a rare sense of 1640, now obsolete.^(OED 1989) The noun, a revelation or disclosure, is from 1629,^(OED 1989) and in theatre or magic, the act of revealing something at a climax, is a recent sense.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1375 – of divine revelation.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1425 – to divulge.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1500 – to show.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1629 – noun, a revelation.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To make known something secret or hidden; to [[disclose]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To show something that was hidden from view.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Of God, to make known divine truths.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # The revealing of something hidden, especially as the climax of a show or [[trick]].^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[revealable]]

+ * [[revealer]]

+ * [[revealment]]

+ * [[revealability]]

+ * [[revealingly]]

+ * [[revealingness]]

+ * [[revelation]]

+ * [[revealed religion]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[veil]]

+ * [[unveil]]

+ * [[voile]]

+ * [[velum]]

+ * [[revealing]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Reveal, expose, disclose, divulge and betray all mean to make known what was or should be kept from others; reveal suggests uncovering something hidden.^(AHD) A different noun reveal, the side of a door or window opening at right angles to the wall, is from 1688, from obsolete revale “to lower”, from Old French revaler, and was later altered under the influence of the verb.^(OED 1989)^(SOED 2002)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}